How An Economic Odd Couple are Viewed on Campus

Joel Mokyr, right, and Robert Gordon talk as they walk on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois

Rob Hart for The Wall Street Journal

On the campus of Northwestern University, there is a clear winner in the contest of ideas between economists Robert Gordon and Joel Mokyr.

As reported in The Wall Street Journal, the two men, who have taught at the school for four decades, have sharply divergent views on the future. Mr. Gordon says we’ve run out of the big ideas needed to fuel rapid economic growth, while Mr. Mokyr anticipates new life-changing breakthroughs.

As you might expect among college-age students, Mr. Mokyr’s optimistic views generate more enthusiasm and discussion.

“If you’re young, you tend to be optimistic—especially about technology,” says Yana Gallen, an economics Ph.D. candidate who took Mr. Mokyr’s introductory class on economic history. She says the world has seen two centuries of remarkable growth and there have always been skeptics who questioned whether it could continue. But they’ve always been wrong, she says. “I haven’t encountered any students who think growth is over.”

Martin Eichenbaum, another Northwestern economist, says Mr. Gordon’s arguments are “very speculative, because once you go beyond five or six years [of projecting trends into the future], it’s very much a guessing game.”

Mr. Gordon’s most controversial claim is that recent innovations—cellphones, for example—aren’t as impactful as those of the past, such as indoor plumbing.

Mr. Eichenbaum says there’s reason to be more upbeat. “Suppose I tell you I could grow a leg or do gene therapy for early-stage cancer—that seems as big to me as plumbing,” he says. While the issue of long-term growth and the impact of new technology is important, he adds, it doesn’t get much attention from students.

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